


ACL + Rehab + Stubborness

by SherlockRiverHekate



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 02:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30098910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockRiverHekate/pseuds/SherlockRiverHekate
Summary: When Jack seriously injures himself on a mission, he is not happy. He's even less happy with the rehabilitation that he had to go through. Then he hears Mac is being sent on a mission, without him.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	ACL + Rehab + Stubborness

Mac and Jack were running, the most recent group of bad guys chasing close at their heels. Mac was trying to think of something, anything that could buy them at least a little time. They were close to the Evac point, but the other group were closing in and Jack was running out of bullets. A whizz past Mac's ears and into the tree beside him told him that the people behind him, however, were not.  
"Nearly there," Jack called out from behind Mac, his attention switching from shooting behind them to the image in front. In the distance he could see the shape of a helicopter forming, the whirr of its rotors starting to reach their ears.  
"Yea," Mac agreed, "but there's a bit of a problem."  
In front of them was looming a large crevice. It was steep, filled with bushes and broken twigs, and just a tad too wide for Mac to comfortably assume they would be able to clear it in a jump.  
Jack saw it too, and came to much the same conclusion as Mac had.  
"You're gonna have to find some way over that, brother."  
Mac slowed his pace, looking around as they approached the gap. There wasn't that much around them other than dirt and trees. While the trees may have been useful to construct a zip line across to the other side there were two distinct problems. The first being that they had no rope and the second being that there wasn't a tree on the other side close enough or strong enough to use as an anchor.  
A quick look behind him showed Mac that the group following them was closing in, desperate to stop them before they reached their Evac point.  
Mac stopped, cursed and took a few steps backward.  
"What are you doing?" Jack asked in surprise.  
"We're out of time, Jack." He told the other man. "We're going to have to jump it and hope for the best."  
With that, Mac took a run up and leapt for the other side. Jack watched in a mix of fear and disbelief as Mac only just made it to safety on the other side. The blonde landed heavily, stumbling and falling, but he had made it across.  
"It's been a few years since long jump at high school," Jack called to Mac.  
"Just do it, Jack!" Mac called back.  
Taking a deep breath, Jack took a few steps back himself, and then started running as fast as he could. He built a decent pace, but just before he launched himself across the gap, Jack looked down.  
The sight of the steep drop and the tangled mess of branches and foliage below threw him off for a moment. A moment was all it took, and Jack botched the jump. He still travelled through the air, enough to just clear the crevice and reach the dirt on the other side.  
However, he was wrong footed when he landed. Instead of dropping to a roll as he hit the ground, his left foot hit first and his knee buckled under the weight. He twisted forward and to the side and felt a sharp pain in the knee.  
Mac turned, seeing Jack on the ground. Amidst the sound of the rotor blades and the gunfire from the other side of the crevice, neither of them heard the cracking sound as Jack hit the ground.  
"You alright?" Mac asked.  
Jack pushed himself to his feet, barely managing to smother the scream that tried to rip its way out of his throat when he stood.  
"I'll be fine, just might need some help getting all the way over there."  
Together they reached the chopper, Jack leaning on Mac for support as he couldn't put any weight on his left leg.

Safely in the chopper and in the air, Jack looked across to Mac.  
"That was possibly the most terrifying moment of my life," he told him.  
"Long jump wasn't your sport?" Mac asked with a grin.  
"Hell no, I was a footy player. All that jumping and hopping? No thanks."  
Cynthia spoke up from her place piloting the helicopter.  
"I see something new every time I work with you two, but that was unbelievable. I was sure you wouldn't make it."  
"Thanks for your confidence in us," Jack called back.  
"I have confidence in your shooting, Dalton. And in MacGyver's ability to make something out of whatever he can get his hands on. Even after that jump, I still do not have confidence in your athletic abilities."  
That caused Mac to laugh, and bump his shoulder with Jack's. The movement jarred the other man a little, just enough to move his knee.  
Pain shot through the leg, white hot and enough that Jack cried out. Jack knew that he'd hurt the knee, the pain when he stood was proof enough, but he hadn't considered just how badly he might have hurt it. Judging by the pain, he had done more damage than he initially thought.  
He bent over, rolling the leg of his pants up over his knee. The joint was already swollen and hot to the touch. As Jack poked around his knee gently, another flare of pain shot through it.  
Mac looked across, seeing how the joint had swollen already.  
"That doesn't look good."  
"I know brother. I'm thinking it might take a bit more than an ice pack to fix this one."  
"Oh, the dreaded medical," Mac laughed.  
"Don't you joke," Jack pointed at him faux sternly. "They're vampires down there. They'll take my blood and strap me to a bed and… Why are you laughing?"  
"Medical aren't that bad," Mac smiled.  
"Hey, you don't get to say that! You don't like medical any more than I do. I've had to drag your ass down there plenty of times."  
"They aren't evil vampires, Jack. The blood tests can help tell them what's wrong."  
"You're just saying that 'cause you have a crush on one of the lab techs," Jack grumbled.  
Mac blushed red and stopped talking after that.

Jack sat through Matty's debriefing, carefully keeping his leg as straight as possible. He had found that the more he bent the knee, the worse the pain was.  
"Dalton!"  
Jack snapped his head up to look at Matty. He hadn't noticed that his eyes were fixed down at the table top, rather than on her.  
"Am I not interesting enough?" she barked.  
"Well, you know. This is one fine table," he tried to joke.  
"Blondie told me you hurt your knee," she said more gently. "Go down to medical and get it seen to."  
"Debrief over, you're all dismissed," she said to the room at large. "Someone help Jack limp his way to medical."

Jack sat through his examination, and the blood tests, and the X-ray and the MRI. He had been warned that the results of the MRI wouldn't be the best as there was so much swelling around the joint that would impact the scan.  
Mac had started explaining why that happened when one of the lab techs came in to take some blood for tests. It was the tech he had a crush on and he started tripping over his words. That alone made the trip to medical bearable, at least in Jack's opinion.

The doctor came back about half an hour after the MRI, holding a scan and a clipboard in his hands.  
"I've got some good news and some bad news, Agent Dalton," he said.  
The doctor looked across at Mac and then back down at the board before continuing.  
From when they started working at DXS and through the change to Phoenix, they had left their next of kin the same, even while Mac was dating Nikki. Jack was Mac's and Mac was Jack's. They were really the only people they trusted to make the right decision.  
"The bad news is that you have partially torn your anterior cruciate ligament or ACL."  
Mac frowned while Jack cursed. He'd seen enough of those injuries while playing football at school to know how bad that could be.  
The doctor held up a hand before they could start bombarding him with questions.  
"The good news is that it's only a partial tear, and as such it doesn't need surgery to repair it."  
He held the MRI up to show them where the tear was and how far it had torn through.  
"Are you sure that it's my ACL? I never heard a crack or a pop sound when I landed," Jack told the doctor.  
"That is unusual," the doctor started saying before Mac cut him off.  
"Jack, between the sound of the chopper blades and the gun fire from the other side of the crevice, I'm not surprised that we didn't hear it go."  
The doctor looked at Mac. "Gunfire, you say? Well I'm not surprised you didn't hear it then. The sound of an ACL tearing isn't that dissimilar to the sound of a shot being fired."  
"Alright, so how long am I out of the field then?" Jack resigned himself to the fact that he had actually done some serious damage to his knee.  
"At least 8 weeks out of the field," the doctor said. "We'll get you into physical therapy before that. Probably in two weeks' time. But for the moment you need to rest the knee, and ice it."  
Jack nodded, taking the knee brace that was being offered to him.  
"Anything else?"  
The doctor nodded. "It's not advised that you bend your knee too much. That risks causing further tearing at the moment."  
They thanked the doctor and left, Mac pushing a wheelchair bound Jack who had his leg elevated.  
It was only once they were out of the building and heading towards Mac's car that Jack realised something.  
"Mac, we might have a slight problem."  
"What's that?"  
"The only way into my apartment is via the stairs…"  
"Which you can't currently climb," Mac finished.  
"You got it, brother."  
Mac opened the car door and let Jack manoeuvre his way in.  
"Not such a problem," he told the other man. "We have a spare room at my place. There's a couple stairs but not so many. I've already cleared it with Bozer."  
"Thanks," Jack said, then realised something. "Bozer's going to go all mother hen on me, isn't he?"  
Mac's smile was wide and overly cheerful. Jack groaned.

Mac had offered to set Jack up in the spare room, complete with one of their spare laptops hooked up to Netflix and a revamped Roomba/robot that could be remote controlled to go get food from the kitchen or water to drink.  
Slightly alarmed at that offer, Jack said that he'd spend the day on the couch rather than staying in bed constantly.  
"I can't get too lazy Mac," he'd argued. "I'm not a total invalid. I just can't move fast, or climb stairs, or bend down."  
Mac rolled his eyes, but allowed Jack to set up camp on the couch during the day. It wasn't like Mac wouldn't be home half the time anyway.  
With his backup out on medical leave, Mac was essentially grounded as well. It wasn't worth the fit that Jack would chuck to send him out with another team, especially not when he was still unable to even walk. Jack took his job of watching Mac's back very seriously, and they all knew that.

It was the weekend and Jack was sitting on the couch, part way through an old James Bond movie. He had already gone through the full Die Hard series and Mac had threatened taking the controls off of him if he put on another Bruce Willis movie.  
Mac himself was sitting on the floor of the lounge room, to the side of the television. There were pieces of about three different kitchen appliances lying on the floor, and a couple balled up pieces of paper where Mac's original plans hadn't quite panned out. Jack thought he was trying to make a toaster that could do pancakes and omelettes as well, but he wasn't entirely sure. The plan did involve boiling water at one stage, so maybe it wasn't omelettes but boiled or poached eggs….  
It was a Saturday, so Bozer was home as well. Not currently, as he'd decided that they needed more fresh fruit and vegetables. Bozer had been cooking soups and casseroles and anything that seemed to have large quantities of glucosamine, collagen or vitamins C or K.  
Once he heard that Jack had damaged ligament, he had googled foods that helped and then run every single one of them by the doctor before planning their meals solely around those foods. He had also decided that bottled juice wasn't good enough and was forcing glasses of fresh orange juice on Jack with every meal and sometimes between meals as well.  
"Hopefully Bozer comes back with some steak or even some chicken," Jack commented.  
"Why?" Mac asked, not looking up from where he was soldering two wires together.  
"I know he's trying to help, but I'm getting a bit sick of legumes and greens."  
"Just be glad he isn't making you take it in tablet form as well," Mac scrunched up his face.  
"I could really do with a nice T-Bone, or better yet, some barbeque ribs."  
"Jack," Mac called.  
"Yea?"  
"Your Texan is showing."

After two weeks of forced inactivity, Jack was almost excited to be going into Phoenix to meet with his physiotherapist. He was still walking with the knee brace on, but at least he was somewhat able to bend his knee without being in intense pain now. And Jack knew that the sooner he started on rehab and got the strength and movement back into his knee, the sooner he would be able to go back out on missions with Mac. There was only so long that Matty could keep his team grounded before they had to be sent out because no one else could take the mission, and he wanted to be out there with them. So he optimistically went into his appointment.  
It was a far less optimistic, and far more grumpy Jack Dalton that walked out of the appointment with the physio.

When Mac and Bozer got home that evening, Jack was sitting on the couch with an ice pack on his knee. There was also a bottle of beer by his elbow and he was scowling at the television.  
He turned as they walked in, glaring before running a hand through his hair.  
"How did the physio go?" Bozer asked.  
"This bloody leg has no strength in it. The exercises she wants me to do are so easy a toddler could do them. But I can't!"  
Bozer widened his eyes at Jacks' outburst, looking across at Mac.  
"I've got this," he mouthed at his friend. Bozer nodded quickly and went into the kitchen. He felt safest there.  
Mac took the defrosted ice pack off of Jack's leg, swapped it for a frozen one and then sat beside him.  
"I know it's frustrating, Jack. It takes a little bit at a time for it to heal. Like with your shoulder."  
Jack just looked at Mac so he continued on.  
"You've spent two weeks where you couldn't even move the knee. That did cause some weakening of the muscle, and the other muscles around it had to compensate as well. Now everything has to get used to moving the right way again. Sure, it's going to be weak and frustrating, but it'll only be for a while. The more you do the exercise then the more of them you'll be able to do. And soon you'll be back out there waving a gun around and watching my back. Yea?"  
Jack sighed. "Yea, brother. I know that, but it's still hard. I'm not supposed to just sit back and do nothing. Dalton's don't do that. And I still can't even get up the steps to my own place."  
"You'll get there, Jack. You know Riley's been keeping the place clean and checking on it for you. And we don't' mind you being here, do we Boze?"  
"No," he called back from the kitchen. "You don't destroy my appliances and you let me try out recipes."  
"Don't think you've ever made something I haven't liked," Jack called back, his normal jovial attitude starting to come back.

Jack, still on medical leave from the Phoenix Foundation, tried to do all his rehab exercises when no one else was home. It wasn't that he thought Mac or Bozer would mock him, or that they would criticise how he was doing them. He just preferred the solitude, it wasn't easy and he didn't really want them to see him in pain. And if he pushed himself just a little bit more than was recommended, well that was between him and the empty house.  
Jack was having two appointments a week with the physiotherapist, and she was happy with how he was progressing. However, six weeks later, she told him that there would be another three weeks before she would consider clearing him for field work. The Texan disagreed, he could walk without issue and they had tried running short distances. Apparently he still favoured that leg when he was running, and there was no way that he would admit that he went home and iced the leg for the rest of the day the first time they had a run.  
Each day Jack worried about Mac being sent out on a mission, his phone always in reach on the off chance that he was called in. It wasn't that he didn't trust the rest of the agents at the Foundation, hell he had trained some of them himself. He knew they were perfectly competent. But they weren't him.

Jack was sitting at the kitchen table, cards laid out in front of him. He had found a deck of cards and had resorted to playing solitaire to entertain himself. Halfway through a fairly good hand , the door opened and Mac came walking in.  
"Jack, how's the rehab going?  
Jack looked up at Mac. The blonde's hair was falling in his eyes but he was looking over Jack's shoulder at the cards.  
"Going well, reckon I'll be good to go in about three weeks."  
"Good, that's good." Mac looked closer at the cards. "Put the red three onto the black four by your right hand."  
"Thanks, don't know why I didn't see that earlier."  
Mac hummed then went to put the kettle on.  
"How are things going at Phoenix?"  
Mac moved around the kitchen, preparing his drink before talking.  
"Everything's going well. I've been working on a new listening device with Riley."  
"Bet she loves that. No missions then?" Jack asked curiously.  
"Well," Mac began. He scratched the back of his head.  
"What? Mac?"  
Mac took a breath in and then slowly released it.  
"Matty just gave me and Riley a mission. Nothing too difficult, but we will be in Washington for a couple of days."  
Jack's face went through a series of expressions, starting with dismay, then confusion, a little anger and finally resignation.  
"When do you leave?" he finally asked.  
"Ah, in three days." Mac replied. "You're not upset or angry?"  
"Well I'm not happy, brother, but there ain't much I can do."  
"Right, okay. That's… okay." It was clear that this wasn't the reaction that Mac was expecting but he let it lie for now.  
What Mac didn't know, was that Jack was already forming a plan in his head. There was no way that Jack was going to let Mac go across the country without being by his side.

The next morning Jack was in the kitchen starting on his breakfast when Mac and Bozer were leaving for work.  
"When are you two expecting to get home tonight?" He asked.  
Bozer and Mac shared a quick look before replying.  
"Probably around 5," Mac replied.  
"Alright. See you boys then. I'll just be sitting here, resting my knee and playing solitaire."  
Mac frowned a little, but then Bozer noticed the time and they went running out the door.  
Once they had left, Jack smiled. That gave him the whole day to rotate between the exercises that the physio gave him, and prove to her that he was mission ready.

He started off the morning with a series of quarter squat holds. 40 squats in sets of eight, each held for 45 seconds. After that Jack took a short break, sitting at the kitchen bench and playing a couple of hands of solitaire.  
Once he didn't feel any pain from the squats, Jack decided it was time to start on the crab walks. He looped the resistance band above his knees and started the walks. 5 metres one way, then drop and five push ups before walking back the other way 5 metres and another five push ups. Jack repeated this another three times, giving him a total of 30 metres and 30 push ups.  
By this time Jack could feel the burning in his knee, and he was a little worried. While he did want to get back to mission ready, he wasn't too keen on over doing it. But he thought he was fine so far, he couldn't have lost that much fitness in the past few weeks.  
So rather than doing any more exercises before lunch, Jack took the ice pack out of the freezer and wrapped it around his knee while he took a small break on the couch.

Before he realised, it was lunch time so his run would have to wait until after he'd eaten something. Getting up to walk to the fridge, Jack noticed that his knee did still hurt just a little bit. Not really an ache, just he could feel it.  
Looking in the fridge there was left overs from the roast that Bozer had made the night before. Some roast meat on bread with some cheese would do nicely for lunch.  
Happy with himself, and content with his plan, Jack sat down to his meal.

Once he'd finished the sandwich Jack went onto the third part of his four part rehab plan. Grabbing a water bottle that he'd already filled, Jack grabbed the house keys from the bowl and headed out. Starting off slow, Jack went for a run down the street. He felt alright so he continued on, going around the block and ending at front of the house.  
Jack was a little bit worried now, the pain in his knee was far more than it had been any other day. The physio had told him to be careful how much he did and how much force he was putting through his knee, but Jack knew his limits. This wasn't the first time that he had injured himself, and anyway, he was more fit than most people. He had to be to keep Mac's skinny ass safe while they were on missions. That, he reminded himself, was why he was doing this. He could put up with a little bit of pain if it meant that he was the one to be out there watching the genius' back.  
Once he got inside, he proceeded to his last exercise. Stripping off his sweat soaked running gear, Jack changed into his swim suit and grabbed a towel before heading down to the pool in Mac's backyard. Another good thing about staying with Mac and Bozer was the access to the pool whenever he felt like. The water was great for his rehab, taking his weight off of his leg and allowing him a little bit more movement.  
As Jack eased himself into the cool water, he immediately felt the pressure in his knee ease off as the water took some of his weight. Slipping fully into the water, Jacks started doing laps, slow strokes just lazily making his way along the length of the pool and back again.  
It was only about 5 laps later when Jack heard the door open inside. It was far earlier than either Mac or Bozer said they were going to return and Jack was suspicious.  
Heading to the edge of the pool where the stairs were, Jack went to get out and investigate, his gun sitting safely underneath his towel.  
However, as he went to left his injured leg onto the step he stopped. The pain was horrendous, and he could not bend his knee and get onto the step. Panicking, Jack realised not only was he defenceless in the pool, but he also could not get himself OUT of the pool. He was stranded and exposed.  
"Hey Jack, I'm back early."  
Mac's voice floated out to Jack and he nearly sobbed in relief. He wasn't in any danger, and hopefully Mac would help him get out of the pool.  
Jack wasn't happy to admit he needed the help, but that didn't change the fact that he did need help and there was no way that he was getting out of the pool under his own power.  
"Jack?"  
Taking a deep breath, Jack called back.  
"Hey brother, I'm out in the pool."  
He heard the sound of Mac putting something down and then he realised that Mac might not immediately come out here.  
"Do you think you could come out here a minute?"  
A few moments later, Mac walked along the side of the pool.  
"Hey, what is it?"  
Jack made a face and then looked at Mac.  
"I can't get out of the pool."

Mac started laughing, thinking that Jack was joking. Then he saw the stricken look on the other man's face.  
"You're not joking," Mac stated.  
"No I'm not brother," Jack confirmed. "I can't get my knee to bend enough to get it on the step and then take my weight."  
Mac ran a hand through his hair before sighing.  
"How much pain are you in?"  
"Quite a bit."  
"Right. And if you stay floating for a bit, would that be better?"  
Jack shrugged. "I was alright when I was doing laps before you got back."  
"Good, that's good. Jack, just hang tight for a couple of minutes. I'll be right back and we can get you out of the pool."  
With that, Mac walked back towards the house.

A couple of minutes later Mac emerged on the decking in a pair of board shorts, a towel slung over his shoulder.  
When he got to the edge of the pool, to Jack's surprise, Mac slid into the pool and came to stand next to him.  
"When you said you'd be back, I thought you were going to build some strange contraption," Jack commented.  
"I could," Mac mused. "But helping you out myself is probably quicker and easier."  
"Right, so how are we going to do this?"  
"We're going up the steps backward, with your leg out in front of you," he said standing on Jack's bad side.  
"Okay, if you think that'll work…"  
"It should," Mac said, slinging Jack's arm over his shoulders. "Just balance and let me take some of the weight."  
This way they slowly made their way up the steps, Jack's sore leg stuck out in front of him.  
Once they were out of the pool, Mac wrapped Jack's towel around him, frowning when he saw the gun that was tucked underneath it.  
"You and I have enemies, and they've found you here before, " Jack shrugged.  
Mac's only response was to shake his head.  
They made their way to some chairs by the pool, the seats high enough that Jack could sit down without having to bend his knee.  
"Alright, what did you do?" Mac asked.  
"What do you mean?" Jack looked confused.  
Mac waved at Jack's knee.  
"You were walking fairly well this morning, you were able to do the exercises that Hayley set you. Oh."  
It suddenly dawned on Mac as to what Jack had done.  
"You did all the exercises that Hayley set in the one day, didn't you? And knowing you, you did more than she had set."  
Jack rubbed the back of his neck.  
"It wasn't that much more," he argued.  
Mac looked at him with an eyebrow raised.  
"Okay, what exactly did you do then?"  
"40 quarter squat holds, 30 metres worth of crab walks, 30 push ups and a run around the block."  
Mac looked at him in shock.  
"You went for a run around the block?!"  
"It was more of a jog, really."  
Mac took a deep breath in and then let it out slowly.  
"Our block is 3km long, and I know you, you don't jog."  
"It was only a light jog! 3 km isn't that far, I can usually go much further. I didn't think it would do that much damage!"  
"I didn't think your rehab included running or jogging yet." Mac looked at him.  
Jack shrugged. "She said I could try a short light jog if I felt up to it. I'd iced my knee while I had lunch, before the run. "  
Mac pinched the bridge of his nose.  
"Jack, icing it was possibly the worst thing you could have done. You cooled the muscles down BEFORE you ran and then jumped in the pool and chilled the muscles that were warm. No wonder you're having problems. You over did the rehab AND stressed the muscles. What on earth were you thinking?!"  
Jack looked distraught at Mac's words.  
"I didn't mean to, I swear."  
"Then what were you trying to do, Jack? I can't see what would have possessed you to almost totally ignore your physio's instructions."  
Jack looked sadly at the blonde.  
"I was trying to get my knee up to scratch so I could go to Washington with you and Riley. I knew my knee was better, it felt almost normal. I figured if I did a bit more, built up the muscle then I could be signed off in time to go with you."  
Mac really shouldn't have been surprised. He had noticed that there was less yelling and disagreements when he told Jack that he and Riley was being sent on a mission without him. He should have figured that Jack was planning. The Texan did not like having his team sent out without him.  
"All this because we were going across the country and you couldn't come?"  
Jack shook his head.  
"Not because I couldn't come. Because I wouldn't be able to be there to watch your back. They can't just send you with anybody. I'm the muscle to your brains. Not everyone knows how to draw the fire away from you and keep the bad guys away while you do your thing. Hell, not everyone even understands your thing. You need someone watching your back that has full faith in what you do and will do everything possible to make sure you can do it."  
Mac thought about that.  
"I see where you're coming from, Jack." He conceded. "But I wouldn't be on my own. Riley would be with me, you taught her yourself. And I'd have someone from the tac team, your tac team. You trained the people who would be going with me. Have some faith in them, and your own training abilities."  
Jack shook his head abruptly.  
"It's not that. I do trust them, and my training abilities. But I can't trust them with you, or Riley. The two of you are my responsibility. I am the one that's supposed to look after you. How can I do that when I'm stuck here with this damn leg?" He hit his leg and then winced when it made the leg move a little.  
"Riley is my little girl, even if she isn't little any more. And I am your body guard and your overwatch, being out of the sandpit will not, and will never, change that. It's my job to watch your back and keep you safe. If something happens and I'm not there to stop it, if you, either of you, get hurt and I because I wasn't there on your six, then I don't think I could forgive myself."  
Jack let out a breath and looked at Mac.  
Mac looked back at him in shock.  
"I'm not sure if I should be displeased that you think we can't take care of ourselves, or incredibly touched that you care enough to risk your own rehab to have my back." Mac said finally.  
Jack just shrugged. "That's the way it is brother."  
Mac laughed.  
"Thank you, I think. But that doesn't change the fact you've over done it and I really don't think you'll be heading out on this mission. I am sorry Jack."  
Jack nodded sadly. "I think you might be right."  
Mac looked thoughtful.  
"How about we get you inside and dried off. The knee strap is probably a good idea, at least for the rest of the day. And while you do that, I'll talk to Matty and see if we can work out some sort of compromise."  
"Sounds like a plan," Jack smiled.

It wasn't until later that night that Mac had a thought.  
"Hey Jack, I wasn't supposed to be home until much later." Mac commented.  
"Yea?" Jack replied, not sure where he was going with this.  
"Well, what would have you done when you tried to get out and then couldn't? There was no way you were getting out on your own."  
Jack thought about it for a moment.  
"I'm really not sure. I hadn't planned on NOT being able to get out."  
"Good thing I can home earlier then, hey."  
Jack laughed.  
"Yea, brother, definitely a good thing. You got my back as much as I have yours."


End file.
